I love this unit, the real power of this workstation is right under your hands, the keyboard ! The polyphonic aftertouch is assignable to almost everything, think off: filter, pitch, volume and vibrato control but also multiple sounds under 1 key which you can control through the amount of pressure. Also it is even possible to assign certain effect parametres to the aftertouch.

The understanding of controlling the menu on this thing can be a bit tricky because it has so many menu's and pages, but it is not very hard though.

The sound are nice, they need a little tweaking and maybe some external fx but the overal is pretty descent.

In overal it is just a great allround keyboard, I've sold mine but now I'm byuing it back because I love it so much.

And if you are going to buy this workstation, make shure it has the TURBO upgrade with it !

Rating: 5 out of 5
posted Saturday-Jul-09-2011 at 04:04

S2Guy
a hobbyist user
from The Netherlands
writes:

I use this keyboard a lot,most of the time as masterkeyboard,but the S2 sound is fine:even today some sounds after some tweaking are very useble,i like the pads,strings,synthesizersounds,FX,but Piano drums sounds are really awful,but who cares?buy a Sampler! This GEM is very reliable to and built like to stand the ages of time,i bought it very cheap 2 hand,i dunno why,underestimated? And it has POLY-AFTERTOUCH! Overal i give 5 stars,combination of very versatile masterkeyboard,exceptional good keyboard action,lots of good sounds(FD contains several hundreds of nice sounds)and the Poly Aftertouch,i just love this keyboard and never wil sel it,its the center of my (MiDi)keyboard set up,if you can grab one cheap 2hand dont think or hesitate:just buy!

Rating: 5 out of 5
posted Wednesday-Jun-04-2008 at 10:43

Walter
a hobbyist user
from USA
writes:

I also posted this in the S2 Turbo section by Mistake. Mine is a regular S2.

Bought my S2 about 7 years ago because I heard of its fantastic controller abilities and I was not disappointed. The on board sounds are pretty good but by todays standards of course a little bit dated. Synths, Pads, Guitars and Basses are great.The rest is OK with Piano and Drums being poor.

Very good on- board effects section. The keyboard itself plays exceptionally well. Best non weighted synth keys I have ever had. The whole machine is heavy and feels like its built like a tank. Rock solid - mine is on 24/7 and I have never had a problem.

Data is written to Floppy because there is no battery backed RAM in this synth. I am not much into sound design and usually just play with whatever comes with a synth, but on this one editing seems very easy because of its large (HUGE for it's time) LCD screen. I have never seen a screen so crisp and bright on any other keyboard before. The only small problem I am having with mine, is that the data dial skips when turned really fast. When turned slowly it works just fine. As mentioned earlier the unit is worth buying just for the Master Keyboard functions alone. Polyphonic after touch, real time sliders etc...

If I would loose it or if it would die on me, I'd definitely look for another one, since they have come down in price a lot and there is nothing in this price range that can compare. I have several newer and much more expensive keyboards but the S2 is the center of my setup.

Rating: 5 out of 5
posted Wednesday-Dec-29-2004 at 13:01

Mervin Remo
a hobbyist user
from Saudi Arabia
writes:

What is the type of GENERAL S2 Disk Drive? is Double Density of High Density?

Rating: 0 out of 5
posted Saturday-Aug-21-2004 at 09:40

Marzzz
a hobbyist user
from Arizona
writes:

Two words: Polyphonic Aftertouch!

I have no idea how this unit sounds, I use it only as a controller- aside from the polyAT, the seven user-defineable sliders make this one of the best controllers ever. Pick one up cheap before the word gets out, I got mine on eBay for $300- I would gladly pay 5 times that much for a modern controller with PolyAT! I am using it to control Arturia's CS-80V, all I can say is "WOW!"